E3 2008: Gran Turismo Q&A

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We sit down with the creator and learn about the future of gaming's premiere racing franchise.

By Chris Roper

At this year's E3, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Kazunori Yamauchi, the founder of Polyphony Digital and creative mastermind behind the studio's Gran Turismo franchise. The focus of the show for Polyphony was the full rollout of GT TV, the "television" channel built into Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Besides finding out about this portion of the game, I was also able to find out the status of the damage patch for Prologue as well as the current progress of Gran Turismo 5.

IGN: So to start off, can you give us an overview of GT TV?

Kazunori Yamauchi: GT TV actually came from a personal wish of mine to have programs that you could watch anywhere, anytime, because when I go home from work, I turn on the TV and look for car programs on cable and satellite, and they're not always easy to find. So that's why I wanted to provide a service where you could have automotive and autosports programs 24 hours a day, anywhere, anytime. We're starting off with Japanese programs and the BBC's Top Gear, and that's where this all started.

IGN: I noticed in some of the shots from the trailer that you're personally featured in some of the spots. How much involvement did you have with the production of some of the specials?

Kazunori Yamauchi: One thing that I want to make clear is that Gran Turismo TV is not a video distribution service - that's not just what it is. We're producing our own programs to spread more information about cars and the automotive world.

So to answer your question, with Gran Turismo TV we're going to be gathering interesting automotive events and news from all over the world, and these are going to be put into our original programs. We have a staff of about 30 people at Polyphony Digital who are dedicated to creating programs for Gran Turismo TV, and I produce all of this, so you could say I'm 100% involved in all of these programs.

IGN: How much of the content is geared towards the hardcore fans versus the more casual racing fan?

Kazunori Yamauchi: For example, we have BBC's Top Gear, which is more of a casual show. It's for anyone from kids to adults. And then we have D1 Grand Prix and the Super GT which are more for core fans of motorsports and cars. There's no real setting of a ratio between the two, we just want to balance it out so that everyone has something to enjoy.

IGN: I'm an especially huge Ferrari fan, and I noticed that you're going to have a behind-the-scenes look at the production of Ferraris. Do you have a segment in there where you actually show off their test track?

Kazunori Yamauchi: We went into the Ferrari factory with high-definition cameras, which is the first time that's ever been done. And that's also true for the Fiorano Circuit, Ferrari's test course. It's the first time in history that anyone has ever brought a high-definition camera to take footage of the track.

IGN: Are there any plans to have this content transferrable to the PSP so that you can watch it on the go?

Kazunori Yamauchi: We definitely want to do that in the future.

IGN: Earlier this year, you mentioned that Polyphony was working on a patch for GT5 Prologue that would add damage modeling to the game later this year. Is that still happening?

Kazunori Yamauchi: Our plans haven't changed, and we're working on it. But this is Gran Turismo, so it might be a little bit late. [laughs all around]

IGN: Lastly, what's the status on the full Gran Turismo 5? Where are you at in production?

Kazunori Yamauchi: Of course after this next update, we're going to have another update later on in the year. There's no plans in the works for GT5 yet - that might be 2009, or it might be 2010... But we're totally focused on getting the updates through for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, and that's all we're focused on.

Gran Turismo 5 takes the series to a whole new level. The game supports online racing and features over 1000 cars, over 20 courses, a new physics engine, a new in-cockpit view, HD support, and much more.